I beg you will pardon the liberty I take in plaguing you with these few
lines, but as you said yesterday that there was nothing you could not
understand in Latin, and I might write what I chose in that language, I
could not resist the bold impulse to write you a few Latin lines. When
you have deciphered these, be so good as to send me the answer by one of
Hagenauer's servants, for my messenger cannot wait; remember, you must
answer this by a letter.
[Footnote: By a messenger of the Hagenauer family, in whose house,
opposite the inn of "Den drei Allurten," Mozart was born, and with whom
his family were on the most intimate terms.]
"Cuperem scire, de qua causa, a quam plurimis adolescentibus ottium
usque adeo oestimetur, ut ipsi se nec verbis, nec verberibus ad hoc
sinant abduci."
[Footnote: "I should like to know the reason why indolence is so highly
prized by very many young men, that neither by words nor blows will they
suffer themselves to be roused from it."]